An image is normally thought of as being a visible representation of a person, place or thing that can be printed in hard copy form or displayed on a display device such as a computer monitor screen, television screen, etc. (i.e. in “soft copy” form) and then viewed in its entirety in a single representation. However, recent advances in image capture technology, such as advances in camera systems and the ability to capture imagery from satellites, have resulted in the ability to capture imagery that has an ultra-high resolution of a billion or more pixels with a high dynamic range (HDR) and a related large field of view. Such imagery is herein referred to as a “gigapixel image.”
Since the inception of the art of photography there has been a desire to capture images depicting a panoramic scene. Historically, a rotating slit scan camera was used to construct an image of a panoramic scene one vertical stripe at a time. Today, gigapixel images are often used to depict panoramic scenes. A number of techniques have been recently developed, in both the film domain and digital domain, for capturing gigapixel images with HDR. For example, in the film domain a custom-built, large film back camera system has been utilized. In the digital domain specialized digital panoramic camera systems exist which can be utilized to capture a set of digital images, each of which depicts a portion of a panoramic scene, which can be subsequently assembled into a composite panoramic image. In addition, in the digital domain satellite imagery of the earth can be used, where a set of digital images captured from satellites are subsequently assembled into a composite panoramic image.